Ballots to remain uncounted in MI and Stein blocked in Philly. Guest: Election integrity, law expert Paul Lehto says this proves 'only option is to get it right on Election Night'. Also: Trump taps climate denier, fossil-fuel tool for EPA...

While the Maryland State Board of Elections admits that the disks contained "the software...used in Maryland in the 2004 elections," Diebold denies everything. Of course. They gave their catch-all apologia --- the software is for "versions...that are no longer in use in Maryland" --- although they were forced to acknowledge "the version of one program apparently stored on the disks is still in use in 'a limited number of jurisdictions.'"

The disks feature logos from Ciber Inc. and Wyle Labratories, Inc., two labs that test voting machines and software (sort of) for Diebold. Both firms deny the disks are theirs.

According to the article...

The disks delivered to [ex-Delegate Cheryl C.] Kagan's office bear labels indicating that they hold "source code" --- the instructions that constitute the core of a software program --- for Diebold's Ballot Station and Global Election Management System (GEMS) programs. The former guides the operation of the company's touch-screen voting machines; the latter is in part a tabulation program used to tally votes after an election.

Three years ago, Diebold was embarrassed when an activist obtained some of its confidential software by searching the Internet. The company vowed to improve its security procedures to prevent another lapse.

The release of such software poses a risk, computer scientists say, because it could allow someone to discover security vulnerabilities or to write a virus that could be used to manipulate election results."

WaPo goes on to report...

The Washington Post obtained copies of the disks Wednesday and allowed Avi Rubin, a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University, along with a colleague and a graduate student, to review the software on the condition that they make no copies of it.

"I would be stunned if it's not real," Rubin said.

Rubin, who has said that electronic voting systems that do not produce a paper record of each vote cannot be secured, led a team that produced an analysis that pointed out security vulnerabilities in the Diebold software found on the Internet in 2003.

Sam Small, the graduate student, said the version of Ballot Station "was consistent with what we've seen previously." Small could not gain access to the GEMS software because the material on two of the disks was protected by a password."

...

The Diebold statement said "it would take years for a knowledgeable scientist" to break the encryption used on the software apparently contained on the disks delivered to Kagan. But Rubin said "the data and files were not encrypted" on the Ballot Station disk he reviewed.

So will Diebold just continue to deny that anything has happened or can happen? Will MD State Election Director Linda Lamone just pass on Diebold disinformation as she always does (despite knowing better...since she's seen the unredacted scientific reports on these systems from security organizations like SAIC and RABA?) Or will someone finally understand that this is a massive problem that needs immediate attention?

Maryland, along with Georgia, was one of Diebold's original "showcase states," implementing Diebold's hackable paperless touch-screen voting across virtually the entire state since 2002. With failure after failure, we might add.

If it's all not bad enough, in what is reported by WaPo as "an unrelated development" in the same article, a new report from Maryland state auditors revealed that the state's new voter registration database does not have proper security controls in place for access to the data...

Maryland state auditors said in a report yesterday that the State Board of Elections is not properly controlling access to a new statewide database of registered voters or verifying what changes are made to it. The report comes at a time of heightened concern over the security and effectiveness of electronic voting systems.

Legislative auditor Bruce Myers said it was unusual to allow "across-the-board access" by local election officials to a sensitive database, but Lamone defended the board's practices. In a letter released with the Office of Legislative Audits report, she wrote that the board "is unaware of any allegations of the falsification of additions or deletions to the system."

Phew! Lamone is "unaware of any allegations" of changes to the voter registration database. We feel better. If she's "unaware" of them, they couldn't possibly exist...even though the state found they could possibly exist and she's unaware of them.

Not bad enough for you yet? Read on...

The Office of Legislative Audits report also said the Maryland elections board has paid bills submitted by contractors without proper documentation and has not taken appropriate steps to safeguard its computer network and Web site.

Lamone said, "It seems inappropriate to base findings on a partially implemented system," referring to the new MDVOTERS database, which Maryland has established to comply with federal law.

She said it is appropriate for local election workers to have access to the database and said procedures are in place to verify changes. Lamone concurred with the auditors' criticism of her staff's accounting practices and said they had "obtained nearly all necessary documentation" for contractors' bills.

Providing the sort of local oversight envisioned by the auditors, she said, "simply cannot be conducted with existing resources."

Apparently Lamone --- who incredibly still has a job --- feels wide and uncontrolled access to the state's database of registered voters is just fine because it's only "partially implemented."

As usual Lamone, a Democrat by the way, uses 'smoke and mirrors' to cover for her own egregious failings as the state's elections administrator.

Have we mentioned how incredible it is that she still has a job?

UPDATE: Posted by John Gideon 11:45am Pac: The complete Office of Legislative Audits report can be found here.

Hey thanks Mar, it was wonderful to wake up hopeful, energized, focused, and CRYSTAL CLEAR on the real evil doers. You know, if it was the dems making such a mockery of our election system we'd never hear a second of peace on the idiot box about it. You hear that Ashcroft and Mr. Richard Mellon Scafe? Where's all that investigative money NOW???????????????

Rubin wouldn't have a leg to stand on if he went to court about anything Diebold

The Diebold Lawyers would eat him up

From Lynn Landes' site;

"Aug 18, 03: Voting Machine Fiasco: SAIC, VoteHere and Diebold...Scam To Vet Voting Software? (Comment: From additional reports I've received, it's clear to me that Avi Rubin went to some lengths to conceal his relationship with VoteHere. After the news broke about his conflict of interest, Rubin asserted that it was his decision to go public. In fact, Rubin issued his statement only hours after I interviewed him. And according to another computer expert, Rubin's personal webpage on the VoteHere website was taken down a few weeks ago after that expert confronted Rubin about his VoteHere affiliation.)"

Floridiot, Micheal Franti must have wrote that song "We don't stop" I think it's called, for you and Ms. Landes. Thank you once again! Like I've said before, they have been perfecting this for decades. Too bad for them glaring criminal activity and congressional criminal lack of responsibility to investigate is still so easy to spot. Ha, Ha, Ha......

Being the jerks that they are the Diebold people will probably just say they were vetting the source code, letting the public in on the democratic process and providing the government with the tabulator's code so we could all feel better about our elections.

They GOP WILL try to steal this election, too, with those "voting machines". The important thing is for the Dems to win SO BIG that the lies become crystal clear...the cheating becomes clear to everyone.

Then, it'll be like one of those other former dictatorships with the people standing in the streets, refusing the accept the results. The country will be ungovernable, and the new dictators--all of them--will have to step down.

The GOP dictators might enjoy a long "vacation" in someplace like Costa Rica.

"We the People" --- and I suspect this will include some of those we think of as right wing gun nuts --- will demand our freedom.

Same shit different day. Accidently Posted this on the previous blog although it was meant for this one so please forgive me for the double. {Ed Note: All fixed. --99}

The government political parties leadership have no interest in fixing this BUSHIT SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS. i SUPPOSE THIS IS AMERICAN AS CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BY WHITE WHO CAUSED THE GENOCIDE OF THE THE NOMADIC AMERICAN INDIANS WHO LIVE AS PART OF NATURE INSTEAD OF DESTROYING IT.

ONLY A FUCKING MORON AMERICAN WHO LISTENS TO THE CORPORATE OWNED GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED NEWS WOULD VOTE FOR THESE MURDEROUS REPUBLICAN CRIMINALS. Then you have warmongers like Democrat Bill Nelson from Florida who voted in favor the Bushit Fascist Suspected Terrorist Act NOW RUNNING against that rightwing crooked skank Katherine Harris and you wonder why OUR world according to the Bushit propaganda parrots on TV and the newspapers is a bunch of misleading lies??? Only to protect the greedy cancer on our American made Democratic form of government know as the Bushit administration and the Democratic robots in Republican clothing.

Rome wasn't built in a day and this Fascist insulated Bushit administration will not fall in a day but it will FALL HARD. The question really is what will be left to save by the time good people take control of the ship.

I'm a bit late tuning into this site today, but has anyone else heard that Summit County, Ohio had 22,000 requests for absentee ballots, but the ballots are unusable? They have several missprints on them and must be reprinted - at this late date! It took two weeks just to receive my ballot in Portage County and our's had no printing problems. The printing company is one approved by ES&S, of course. The owner of ES&S is the brother to the owner of Diebold. I smell something rotten.

Ohio voters are now able to vote absentee without stating a reason. We, at one of several Democratic groups, had hoped voters would be able to use this type of voting to avoid the hackable blackbox machines. It looks as if some voters will NOT have a chance to do that this time.

Continuation from my post at comment #20:
Here is the list of Senators who voted in favor of TORTURE and Ending the WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. rEPUBLICAN FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS WHO CALL THEMSELVES DEMOCRATIC SENATORS ARE LISTED IN BOLD TYPE.

Waging a war against Nature, these ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL Senators have done their part to REVERSE OVER 200 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND STANDARDS. Always disguising the bill with a misleading title has been their trademark. Their ANTI-SCIENCE mismanagement approach to the GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS while they line their pockets endangering the future of over 1 million species is their most disgusting human crime of ALL TIME.

Comment #25:
The bold thang didn't work however these dishonorable U.S. Democratic enablers blend in this list representing the Senatorial Bushit Fascist criminals like peas in a pod.

The main difference when making the Hitlerian comparisons of these bastards and and the NAZIS is the nazis openly hated Jews as part of their battlecry. These scumbags mask their racism behind their Rovian mass media profiles and have some Jewish people on the working on the inside of their PLAN FOR A NEW AMERICA.

KEEP THE KILLING MACHINE GOING IN IRAQ BUSH/CHENEY/RUMSFELD/RICE AND CO BUT YOU WILL NEVER WIN THAT WAR EITHER. LYING MURDERERS. To bad YA ALL weren't having cocktails in WORLD TRADE BUILDING #7 on the night of SEPTEMBER 11, 2001.

What is wrong with paper and pencil? Isn't it time for a court to "just say no" to electronic voting. There are no circumstances where these machines can absolutely guarantee a vote without fraud, malfunction or competent poll workers. Where is the common sense? This is the most disgusting assault on democracy in 100 years. We are living in a country run by criminals.

Oh hey, (ABC) (aka the 911 story liars of Sacramento California) tried to say something today about electronic election count problems this morning the OCTOBER 20th.) Too little too late, why they don't RESEARCH THE CRAP!!!! DIE ABC BASARDS, DIE (like loose your license) I SAY DIE, YOU ALL SUCK, or follow up and PUT THE LIGHT IN THE CRACK THAT IS ELECTRONIC VOTING YOU MOTHERFSCKERS!!

If you don't get what I am saying MSM covered , or said rather that there was prollems in counting on electronic votes. Or rather that they know that X people don't trust the electronic vote. (an AP poll or some such shit, not their own poll)

----STILL A FAR FSCKIN cry from dealing out the reality of the situation. BURN IN HELL STILL. And I say they still need to have some PUBLIC FILE files filed on their lame ass's to revoke their right to renew their(sic) frequency. THEY DONT OWN IT, YOU DO, IT'S THE FREQUENCY[S]

AND THEY DO NOT REPORT THE TRUTH ABOUT ELECTRONIC VOTING YET. THEY ONLY GAVE IT LESS THAn 20 SECONDS. WTF!?

DIE F-krs.

BZZZZZZZZZZZT!

The problem is electroncis in the elections you FSCKING BASTARDS CAN YOU HEAR ME YET?!

1. Pigs fly
2. The ugle truth about this Bushit system of elections mysteriously rears it's head to become common knowledge to a majority of Americans and manifests itself as reoccurring massive street demonstrations against them.
3. fULL mEDIA cOVERAGE oF A motorcyclist pulling an airplane sign that reads: Paper ballots only or DEATH while doing a back flip jump at Caesar's Palace. The crowd of onlookers holds up signs like:

If by chance, we get by these ranky dank, cheating voting machines, we most demand that harris, blackwell and this latest traitor, lamone are indicted. If convicted, given at least a 40 year prison term.

COMMENT #33 [Permalink]...
5th of November
said on 10/20/2006 @ 10:21 pm PT...

Why does everyone think this year will be different? They already stole 2 presidential elections (wide scale fraud). You really think they cannot steal House elections (small scale fraud). This is the same group that managed to legalize warrantless wiretaps, suspend habeas corpus, ban books like "America Deceived" from Amazon, detain demonstrators and start 2 illegal wars based on lies. The Republicans will probably lose a few seats to make it look good but maintain a majority. Then they'll invade Iran on behalf of Israel.
Support indy media.
Final link (before Google Books bends to gov't will and drops the title):America Deceived (book)

Get ready for the real sh** to start. Hope we survive it and not too many of us die or end up in camps. Before we take our country back. These traitors stole the country. They have taken away our rights and will do anything to keep it. Anything!!! They will steal this election, cause another 9-11 (bigger this time) or both. Take back the media and get rid of them.

My past blogs seemed too drastic for you at the time but here we go. Thank God, finally the American people will have a chance to rectify the wrongdoings that have been going on for the last 6 years. Go out and wipe out the "RED" off your map on election day! Have cameras at ALL exit polls and everyone who has chosen a Dem., mark your right index finger blue and show the cameras at the exit polls. With all the footage we will know if the elections were fixed and then can prove it. If it is needed everyone can stand and count......please.

Just more blatant proof of the big election scam here, making us the joke for the rest of the world--we who "export democracy" at the barrel of a gun. It is embarrassing to be an American, and if anyone from outside the country is reading this...please know, we did not vote for these globalist criminals! And how do you vote out who you did not vote in? Anyone have any ideas?

Code stolen in past election, they make this seem like it is a problem?Actually it would be nice if all code were open sourced before the elections and we had a way of guaranteeing that code actually was there before, during and after the election.

Aw, screw that, just get rid of the damn machines. We made it for over 200 years without them we really don't need them now either. Paper ballots like the rest of the world, please.

I swear, there is more security in a vending machine than one of these voting machines.